Single Source Publishing uses a master document and transformations that publish the document in multiple contexts (or channels).
For example, there may be web versions, PDFs, print versions, PDA and cellphone versions, audio (text reader) versions, and versions for different skill levels, beginner, intermediate, advanced, etc.
Changes need only be made to the original or master version for them to appear automatically in the next version displayed on any of the
Multi Channel outputs.
Single source facilitates
Reuse of content.
Single source is similar but not identical to Re Purpose
? of a document. Re Purpose
? implies that the original was adapted for the new purpose. It implies a
derivative version, which leaves the original/master in place.
Single Source Publishing is not the same thing as
Single Source Of Truth.
Single sourcing is a documentation workflow that creates multiple deliverables from one unmodified source document—
that is, in the process of creating the deliverables, the source document is not edited or modified. The deliverables produced by single sourcing can differ not only in form—for example, online help and print-ready documentation— but also in content. Thanks to this flexibility, different content can be provided to different audiences, so that (for example) novice, intermediate, and advanced users of a product can receive only the information that will be helpful to them.
If you produce multiple deliverables that share some of the same content, single sourcing can reduce the resources in time
and staff you need to produce them. Single sourcing really begins to shine when it’s time to edit and update the deliverables, because all the changes can be made to a single document. With traditional workflows, changes would have to be synchronized across many source documents.
STC